It was one of the more unusual calls for a group of Laurel, Maryland, police officers who on Friday evening had to turn a car’s passenger seat into an impromptu delivery room. Officer Shermon Willis was on patrol that evening when the driver of a Nissan Rouge flagged him down shortly before 8 p.m. at the intersection of Van Dusen Road and Maryland 198 in Laurel. The driver explained to the officer that his pregnant wife, seated in the passenger seat, was in labor and needed help. Willis called for an ambulance, while Pfc. James Bright, who overheard the call, headed to the scene to assist, the Laurel Police Department said. Bright, a volunteer EMT, determined that there was no time left to escort the couple to a D.C. hospital, something the father-to-be had suggested. Giving the impending birth, Cpl. Juan Diaz-Chavarria garbed supplies from his cruiser’s first aid kit and the officers turned the couple’s car into a roadside delivery room. Bright coached the mother through the process, and after a few more minutes of labor, he delivered a healthy baby girl, police said. The Laurel Volunteer Fire Department later arrived and helped cut the umbilical cord. Police said that mother and child were then transported to a hospital for routine aftercare.
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